"Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."

This study was an elaboration of ideas he first proposed in 1933 in his address to the Fifth International Conference for the Unification of Penal Law (1933), which argued that attacks on racial, religious and ethnic groups should be considered international crimes. Important for the prosecution of the Nazis, it helped to establish the framework for all subsequent efforts to punish crimes against humanity.

When Lemkin proposed a treaty against genocide to the United Nations in 1945, he defined it as follows:

"The crime of genocide should be recognized therein as a conspiracy to exterminate national, religious or racial groups. The overt acts of such a conspiracy may consist of attacks against life, liberty or property of members of such groups merely because of their affiliation with such groups. The formulation of the crime may be as follows: "Whoever, while participating in a conspiracy to destroy a national, racial or religious group, undertakes an attack against life, liberty or property of members of such groups is guilty of the crime of genocide."

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Resolution entitled Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
• It was largely through the one-man campaign of a Polish jurist, Raphael Lemkin, someone who had lost family members in the Nazi holocaust, and who had invented the term "genocide", that the Resolution was adopted. [In Search of a Better World by Payam Akhavan p91-92]
• The attitude at the time could be summed up in the words "Never again!" however the world would have to wait another 50 years before the International Criminal Court would be established to provide any real meaning to this Resolution.
• See IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black. It is the stunning story of IBM's strategic alliance with Nazi Germany -- beginning in 1933 in the first weeks that Hitler came to power and continuing well into World War II. As the Third Reich embarked upon its plan of conquest and genocide, IBM and its subsidiaries helped create enabling technologies, step-by-step, from the identification and cataloging programs of the 1930s to the selections of the 1940s. A book review.

Every year on 9 December, the United Nations marks the adoption of the Genocide Convention, which is also the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. [Ratification of the Genocide Convention]

The crime of genocide has three elements: 1. Acts of genocide committed with, 2. intent to destroy, in whole or in part, 3. a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. For more detailed information see Genocide Watch. On that site Dr Gregory Stanton lists the ten states of genocide: Classification, Symolization, Discrimination, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Preparation, Persecution, Extermination and Denial. [Ten Stages]. iiiii

Resolution 96 of the UN General Assembly, of December 11, 1946, titled "The Crime of Genocide," describes genocide as the "denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings."

In an article in IranWire of 15 November 2023, author Faramaz Dakar asks, "Is the Islamic Republic Committing a Silent Genocide Against the Bahá'ís?".

Q. What groups are the victims of genocide? A. Victims of the crime of genocide fall into four specific groups: ethnic, national, religious and racial. This means that, for example, a political group cannot be considered a victim of genocide based on its legal definition. What is relevant in genocide is the annihilation of a group or a community as a unit and even as a whole.

Q. What specific actions constitute genocide? A. Behaviors that constitute the crime of genocide fall into five groups: (1) killing the members of the group; (2) inflicting physical harm that can gradually lead to the loss of life or impose permanent and extensive suffering on a person's life; (3) imposing conditions with the intent of annihilating the target group, such as starvation or cutting access to water, or depriving the members of the group of the means of survival such as seizing and confiscating their residences and businesses which ultimately makes it impossible for them to live that an environment; (4) creating conditions that prevent birth and childbearing or lead to the sterilization of people, and make the birth of a new generation of that religious, ethnic, racial or national group impossible; (5) the forced removal of the children of the target group.

Iran is a signatory to the Convention Against Genocide therefore the the Islamic Republic must be held accountable for the systematic persecution of the Baha'is. There is no sign that this government has ever had any intention of doing so and Iranian laws do not address the crime of genocide in any form. [IranWire 15 November 2023

The websites and social media channels are compounded by videos, print newspaper articles and other written media, books, seminars, exhibitions, graffiti and fatwas from both official outlets and others sponsored by the government but purporting to be independent. [Bahá'í International Community News]

Since 2017, more than 33,000 pieces of toxic anti-Bahá'í content have been published or broadcast. In recent years, hundreds of websites and dozens of social media accounts have systematically attacked the Bahá'í community, misrepresenting Bahá'í beliefs in a manner designed to cause maximum offence to Iran's Muslim-majority population. [CiJA Statement on Iranian anti-Bahá'í Campaign] (The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is the advocacy agent of Jewish Federations across Canada.)

António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, in his 2019 Plan of Action to Combat Hate Speech, said that "[h]ate speech is a menace to democratic values, social stability and peace. As a matter of principle, the United Nations must confront hate speech at every turn. Silence can signal indifference to bigotry and intolerance, even as a situation escalates and the vulnerable become victims."

Incitement to hatred is prohibited under international treaties that Iran itself has ratified, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [United Nations Plan of Action on Hate Speech]

The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) strongly condemn the increase in anti-Bahá'í propaganda disseminated by Iranian state-run media. A recent report by the Bahá'í Community of Canada found that "Iran's state-sponsored campaign of hatred against the Bahá''í Faith has been on the rise across all media platforms, including the web, social media, radio, newspapers, and television." On the 20th of July they issued a joint statement from Professor Irwin Cotler, Founder and International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Mr. Ali Ehsassi, Member of Parliament (House of Commons of Canada) and Mr. Anders Österberg, Member of the Swedish ParliamentFounding Member of PGA's Parliamentary Rapid Response Team (PARRT).

See the report entitled State-sponsored hate propaganda against Iranian Bahá'ís published by the Office of Public Affairs of the Bahá'í Community of Canada.

See a speech titled A Non-Governmental Perspective on the Relative Effectiveness of Multilateral and Bilateral Measures by Bani Dugal, the Principal Representative, United Nations Office, Bahá'í International Community given in Florence, Italy 9 April 2022. The talk was presented at a conference on Religion, Hateful Expression and Violence sponsored by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy.

See Erased in the Shadows: The Persecution of Iran's Bahá'ís by Sabrina Nelson dated 2 October 2024.